Garment fastener



Jun@ 16, 1942.

" D. l. REITER GARMENT FASTENER Filed Sept. 10, 1941 INVENTOR 'alyml Reiter 'jm/M Patented June 16, 1942 l UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT FASTENER Daniel I. Reiter, New York, N. Y. Application September 10, 1941, Serial No. 410,230

6 Claims.

This invention relates to garment fasteners and particularly to resilient sockets of the springwire socket type designed to withstand laundering of the garment to which the fastener is applied.

Socket fasteners of theresilient type designed to receive a cooperating stud have heretofore been attached to garments of comparatively thin and fragile material, such as dresses, by sewing the socket thereto with needle and thread. This mode of securing the socket to the garment is slow and hence uneconomical.

My invention therefore contemplates the provision of a resilient spring-wire socket provided with a one-piece housing having means for bending and holding the prongs of a pronged cap passed through the material of a garment into engagement with said means, and thereby securing the socket to the cap with the garment material therebetween by merely pressing the cap and socket together in an axial direction without the necessity for sewing.

My invention further contemplates the proviB sion of a one-piece Wire housing for a resilient spring-wire socket, said housing having an outwardly turned annular central part to guide the prongs of a pronged cap into a suitable socketholding and securing position, and having a rim to hold the thus bent prongs in place, the entire housing being suiciently thin to withstand laundering and pressing operations on the garment without damage.

The various objects of the invention will be clear from the description which follows and from the drawing, in which,

Fig. l is a vertical section of my improved socket fastener shown assembled with a cooperating stud and fastened to a garment.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same, part of the garment being cut away to show the socket.

Fig. 3 is a similar View, partly broken away, of the socket housing and of the spring wire carried thereby.

In the practical embodiment of the invention shown by way of example, the socket housing Ill is secured to a part Il of the garment by means of the pronged cap element I2. To another part I3 of the garment is secured the stud element I of any suitable and well known construction designed to be separably attached to the socket by the engagement thereof with the wire spring I5.

The housing l is of peculiar construction, being formed of a single piece of sheet metal bent to provide not only adequate means to hold the spring l5, but also to provide means to bend the prongs It of the cap element I2 as said cap is pressed toward the housing with the garment material therebetween. For holding the Wire spring, the base or plate-like part I'I of the housing is provided at its outer periphery with the upstanding circular rim I 8 of arcuate cross-section and terminating in a circular free edge I9 overhanging the base I'I and spaced thereabove enough to make the resulting space 20 suiiiciently large for the reception of the circular outer part 2l of the spring I5 in the lower part of the space and on the base and for the arrangement of the ends of the prongs I6 when bent in the upper part of said space above the spring and underneath the edge I9.

In the base I1 is provided a central o-pening 22 for the passage of the stud I4. Upstanding from the base is the substantially cylindrical wall 23 integral with the housing. Said wall surrounds the opening 22 and is arranged inside of the rim I8, being of greater height and eX- tending above the rim as viewed in Fig. 1. The wall 23 is integrally joined by the bend 24 at its lower end to the base II and at its upper end is provided with the integral outwardly bent prong-bending wall 25 joined thereto by the integral annular bend 26. The Wall 25 is preferably of generally conical shape, being of greater diameter at its lower free end than at its upper end Where it joins the bend 26. Said wall 25 may also be curved concavely upwardly at its extremity 2l so that when the prongs I6 contact therewith and are pressed axially, said prongs are directed outwardly by the wall 25 and bent to a position underneath the peripheral part of the rim IB as shown in Fig. 1. The thus bent prongs permanently secure the cap and socket together against separation from the garment and from each other without necessity for sewing or any other securing operation.

The wall 23 is cut away at two diametrically opposed parts thereof to form the spaced nondiametrical slots 28, 29 extending partway through said Wall and having a height slightly greater than that of the diameter of the wire of the spring I5. From the circular part ZI of said spring are bent the parallel preferably straight legs 3l), 3| which pass through the slots and through the interior space surrounded by the wall 23 and lie on or close to the base I'I of the housing. Said legs 30, 3| form the securing means to hold the stud I4 removably in the socket, being urged inwardllr toward each other and against the inner edges of the slots in the wall 23 by the spring action of the circular part 2l. The legs are free to yield or to move away from each other and partly out of said slots under the pressure of the stud head I4 forced therebetween after passage of said head through the opening 22.

It will thus be seen that the spring legs 30, 3| yield outwardly on the passage of the enlarged part of the stud head through the opening 22 and into the interior of the wall 23 and that said legs when released by the stud move toward each other to engage the constricted neck of the stud, thereby to hold the stud separably in position.

To secure the housing I to the garment part Il, the pronged cap l2 is provided. While the cap is shown in the form of a flat annular washer part with prongs at spaced intervals depending from the inner peripheral edge 33 of the washer part, it will be understood that the cap may be a closed cap of the type well known in the art and as is shown for example in my co-pending application Serial No. 388,962. No further description or illustration of the cap is therefore deemed necessary.

To assemble the cap I2 with the housing Il), said cap is arranged on one side of the material Il, while the housing is arranged on the other side of said material. The two parts are then moved toward each other to insert the prongs l5 through the space 34 between the housing part 25 and the extremity I9 of the rim, the prongs being forced into Contact with the outer surface of the comparatively rigid wall 25 and being guided thereby and by the end part 21 thereof toward the rim and into the upper part of the space 2t. The prongs are thereby bent into a position underneath the overhanging part of said rim and engage the rim and prevent the separation of the cap and housing from the garment.

While the wall 23 is open at its top as well as at its bottom owing to the formation of the outwardly extending wall 25, the garment part l I covers and conceals said walls since some of the garment material is arranged inside of andv bridges the space between the prongs on the inside of the cap l2. It will be seen that by the provision of the prong-bending wall and of sufcient space in the rim for the ends of the prongs, I have provided a simple one-piece prong-bending housing and fastener installation capable of quick and easy assembly to the garment without sewing and hence well designed for practical use.

I claim:

l. In a garment fastener, an annular base part having a central stud-receiving opening therein, an arcuate rim on the base terminating in a free edge, a wire spring having a circular part at the juncture of the base and rim and having a pair of spaced legs coplanar with and extending from the circular part across the base part, a wall of circular cross-section upstanding from the base part and surrounding the opening, said wall having spaced cut-away parts therein for the passage therethrough of the legs of the wire spring, and an annular prong-bending part extending downwardly and outwardly from the top of the wall and downwardly past and in inward spaced relation to the edge of the rim to form a prongreceiving space therebetween.

Z. In a garment fastener, a dished one-piece housing having a central stud-receiving opening and a substantially cylindrical upstanding wall surrounding the opening, said wall being open at the upper end thereof, an outwardly and downwardly directed substantially conical wall extending'integrally from the upper end of the cylindrical wall and terminating in a free edge, an upwardly and inwardly curved rim on the housing having a free circular edge arranged adjacent the conical wall and in outward spaced relation thereto to provide a prong-receiving space therebetween, and a spring ring having an intermediate part thereof arranged at the rim eil) and having the end parts thereof arranged in transverse spaced relation and passing through the cylindrical wall.

3. In a garment fastener, a one-piece housing having a central hollow cylindrical wall open at both ends thereof and having a pair of parallel slots therein, a base extending outwardly from one end of the wall and terminating in a peripheral rim of arcuate cross-section, the major part of said rim being suiciently spaced from the base to provide a space therebetween of substantial height, a wire spring member having an arcuate part arranged in part of said space and having a pair of substantially parallel legs each arranged in one of said slots, the remainder' of said space being suiicient for the reception of the bent prongs of a pronged cap, and a substantially conical prong-bending wall extending integrally and outwardly from the other end of the rcylindrical wall and terminating in a free edge adjacent said space.

4. In a garment fastener, a resilient socket including a one-piece housing, said housing comprising a substantially flat base provided with an upstanding rim terminating in a free edge spaced from and overhanging the base, an integral upstanding wall on the base inside of the rim, and a prong-bending wall depending from the upstanding wall and arranged between the upstanding wall and said free edge of the rim, a wire spring having a circular part on the base at the rim, said free edge being arranged in Vertical spaced relation to the spring to provide a prongreceiving space between the spring and said edge. and movabe legs on the spring passing through the upstanding wall and movable away from each other under the pressure of a cooperating stud, and movable toward each other under the influence of said circular part of the spring.

5. In a garment fastener installation, a cap provided with bendable spaced prongs, a onepiece socket housing comprising a rim arcuate in cross-section, an annular wall in inward spaced relation to the rim and having a prong-bending wall depending therefrom and arranged between the rim and the annular wall, said annular wall having spaced slots therein, a Wire spring arranged in part in the housing at the rim and having coplanar leg parts passing through the slots, the prongs of said cap passing through the space between the rim and the prong-bending wall and being bent by the prong-bending wall and directed thereby into the rim above the spring when the cap and housing are pressed together with a garment therebetween to secure the fastener to the garment.

6. In a garment fastener, a one-piece housing having a stud-receiving opening and a substantially cylindrical upstanding wall surrounding the opening, said wall being open at the upper end thereof and being provided with a pair of spaced transverse slots, an outwardly and downwardly directed substantially conical wall extending integrally from the upper end of the cylindrical wall, an upwardly and inwardly curved rim on the housing having a free circular edge arranged adjacent the conical wall and in outwardly spaced relation thereto to provide a prong-receiving space therebetween, and a spring ring having an arcuate part arranged below the free edge of the rim and having a pair of legs extending from the arcuate part and passing through the respective slots of the cylindrical wall.

DANIEL I. REITER. 

